6 Killer We Hate Movies Spooktacular Episodes

It’s October, which means it’s time for one of my favorite seasonal podcast events: The We Hate Movies Spooktacular! For the uninitiated, throughout October the WHM gang only cover horror movies. From the biggest franchises to deep cut obscure flicks you’ve never heard of; the Spooktacular always delivers. You know you’re in for a good time when the fantastic Spooktacular theme song kicks in.

I love We Hate Movies dearly. It’s the gold standard for comedic movie discussion. This podcast has nearly killed me with laughter. No, really, a joke in their episode on The Santa Clause 3 caused me to laugh so hard I had to pull off a highway to compose myself. I regularly find myself digging through the backlog to revisit old favorites, so I think it’s high time for a list.

Whether you’re a new listener looking to sample some of the highlights or and old fan looking to revisit classics, this list grabs a favorite Spooktacular episode from the past six seasons of publicly-available WHM (as well as a bonus rec for a frightningly good Patreon-exclusive episode).

Episode 176 – Child’s Play 3

A Radiopublic embed of the Child’s Play 3 episode, which can also be found here.

For all of the talk about how wackadoo the later Chucky movies have gotten, it’s easy to forget the series has always been bonkers to begin with. Child’s Play 3 starts in a military academy and ends at a carnvial (for some reason?). This Spooktacular is an instant classic if only for the fact that it’s an excuse for the hosts to bust out their impressions of Brad Dourif impersonating Jack Nicholsen’s feral roar from The Shining. Come for the yells, stay for the riffs about the mechanics of Chucky somehow mailing himself to a military academy.

Episode 219 – Brainscan

A Radiopublic embed of the Brainscan episode, which can also be found here.

Continuing the theme of mail-based humor for a moment: this is a stand-out WHM episode that regularly comes up in Twitter and Facebook discussions of best-ever eps for good reason. Brainscan is a movie about a horror movie nerd who orders a video game from Fangoria magazine that, wouldn’t you know it, makes you kill people. The hosts eventually begin improvising scenes between the movie’s villain and an ever-disappointing intern named Jeremy, who both struggle with the logistics of mailing out discs of their murder-game in a timely manner. You’ll never look at Columbus Day the same way again.

Episode 127 – Chopping Mall

A Radiopublic embed of the Chopping Mall episode, which can also be found here.

A 1980s mall invests in a brand new security system: robots armed with lasers that patrol the promenades and zap anybody who doesn’t work there. What could possibly go wrong? Sure do hope a gang of oversexed teens never try to stay past closing and then have an awkward orgy in a furniture store. Things could go oh-so horribly wrong. Chopping Mall itself is a delicious experience and serves up the perfect foundation for a hilarious WHM discussion start to finish.

Episode 322 – Saw

Chris Cabin, already known for being the resident curmudgeon, brings an extra edge of venom to his jokes this time around. Thanks to working a Collider article on the Saw franchise, Cabin comes to the table while also staring down the barrel of having to watch every movie in his least favorite franchise. Buckle up for great riffs and an all-you-can-eat buffet of Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw voice impressions.

Episode 268 – Pet Sematary II

The second appearance of Eddie “Terminator” Furlong on this list, this straight-to-video sequel ends up being great Halloween cheesy horror fodder. What if Pet Sematary, but again? A great example of of a “We Love Movies situation,” you’ll probably find yourself wanting to watch PS2 by the final Furlong impersonation. In the words of Stephen Sajdak in this episode: “It’s very dumb and I liked it a lot.”

Episode 383 – Halloween: Resurrection

This is up there with Brainscan and Halloween III as one of the WHM episodes I’ve re-listened to the most. Not only are the guys tearing into a bad sequel, which is fun in and of itself, this episode features a classic WHM side-splitting episode-long running gag. What starts as a quick joke about Howard Stern evolves into multiple Donald Pleasance impressions confessing Dr. Loomis’ love of shock-jock DJs.

Bonus: The Shining (Patreon)

A Radiopublic embed of a clip from their The Shining episode, which can also be found here.

And now for a bonus: The above is a clip of the Patreon-exclusive full length episode for the Spooktacular this year, and it’s an official We Love Movies episode to boot. Two hours and seventeen minutes of four people who love The Shining dearly talking through it. The jokes are hilarious, the quotes and impersonations are perfect, if you’ve been considering supporting WHM on Patreon, this episode is an instant classic.